I have read and heard of many people commenting about charging in the shade to control battery temperature and reduce slow charging issues on the 2018 Leaf. I thought to myself, charging in the shade doesn't make any sense because the battery pack is underneath the car and can't get directly heated up by the sun. Then I realized that what people were talking about was charging while your car was sitting right on top of pavement that had been heated by the sun.
The pavement heated by the sun can be 20 degrees F or more hotter than the air temperature. So the air coming right off the pavement to cool the battery pack while charging a Leaf in the shade is a lot cooler than air coming off a non-shade charging area. Good advice, but how do you make use of this advice when there are so few fast charging stations in shady spots?
Simple, travel at night when it's shady everywhere. It's typically 25 degrees F at night cooler than in the heat of the day so, not only is there no heat coming off the pavement at the charging spots and on the highway, the surrounding air temperature is lower at night. The air cooling the battery pack could be 50 degrees or more cooler at night than in the heat of the day.
So to take advantages of nighttime battery pack cooling on very long trips with multiple fast charging stops you should plan your trip so that you do most of your charging late at night after the pavement cools off and in the early morning before the sun has a chance to heat things up. Other temperature controlling techniques in conjunction with nighttime driving, such as driving for range not speed, should further reduce battery pack heating and slow charging issues. I have not had much opportunity to test the nighttime driving to control battery temperature theory but the theory appears sound.
If have any experience travelling long distances with multiple fast charges at night please share your experience related to how nighttime charging speeds compare to daytime charging speeds.
The pavement heated by the sun can be 20 degrees F or more hotter than the air temperature. So the air coming right off the pavement to cool the battery pack while charging a Leaf in the shade is a lot cooler than air coming off a non-shade charging area. Good advice, but how do you make use of this advice when there are so few fast charging stations in shady spots?
Simple, travel at night when it's shady everywhere. It's typically 25 degrees F at night cooler than in the heat of the day so, not only is there no heat coming off the pavement at the charging spots and on the highway, the surrounding air temperature is lower at night. The air cooling the battery pack could be 50 degrees or more cooler at night than in the heat of the day.
So to take advantages of nighttime battery pack cooling on very long trips with multiple fast charging stops you should plan your trip so that you do most of your charging late at night after the pavement cools off and in the early morning before the sun has a chance to heat things up. Other temperature controlling techniques in conjunction with nighttime driving, such as driving for range not speed, should further reduce battery pack heating and slow charging issues. I have not had much opportunity to test the nighttime driving to control battery temperature theory but the theory appears sound.
If have any experience travelling long distances with multiple fast charges at night please share your experience related to how nighttime charging speeds compare to daytime charging speeds.